


My Soft Place To Land

by Ink_Gypsy



Series: Sanctuary Singles [35]
Category: Lord of the Rings RPF (AU)
Genre: M/M, Sanctuary Universe, Sean Astin/Elijah Wood - Freeform, birthday gift fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-18 00:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18975217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink_Gypsy/pseuds/Ink_Gypsy
Summary: After Elijah learns from Hannah that she saw Pedar, he wonders if he still has to fear that Pedar might find him.





	My Soft Place To Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [addie71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/addie71/gifts).



> Written as a birthday gift for Addie71. Part of my Sanctuary Universe.

[ ](https://imgur.com/1GNaoQt)

As they prepared for bed, Elijah told Sean, “The last time I talked to Hannah, she told me she saw Pedar on the street, getting out of his limo.”

“Was he alone?” Sean asked.

“She said he could have had someone with him, but she only saw Pedar.” Elijah shook his head. “I still worry that one day he’ll find me, and that he won’t stop at hurting me for betraying him. I honestly think he’d kill me for walking out on him.”

“That's not going to happen,” Sean said emphatically as they turned down the bed spread. “Pedar's not going to find you, and even if by some stroke of fate he did, you’re not isolated from family and friends the way you were when you lived with him. If he tried to hurt you, I'd find a way to stop him, no matter what it took. You’re safe here, Elijah.”

“Do you think he’s still looking for me?” Elijah asked, obviously hoping Sean would tell him what he wanted to hear, that he was sure Pedar no longer had any interest in him..

Sean wished he could, but he couldn’t lie to the man he loved, not even to ease Elijah’s mind. “I’d have to say yes,” he admitted. “From what you’ve told me about Pedar, it would be a matter of honor for him. Men like Pedar have to be the ones calling all the shots, so I’ve no doubt he’d want to find you, if only to punish you for leaving him before he decided that the relationship was over. I’m sure he looked for you himself, maybe even hired a private investigator to do it, but you didn’t leave a trail to follow, and nobody would think to look for you here. We’ll just have to hope he’ll eventually get tired of looking and give up the search.”

“I can’t believe how stupid I was,” Elijah remarked, “believing that Pedar loved me, even after he hit me.”

They had talked about this before, when Elijah had first told Sean his story. Sean knew that Elijah still blamed himself for what had happened with Pedar, even though Sean knew he wasn’t to blame, that he’d been taken advantage of by a master manipulator. “You’re being too hard on yourself,” Sean told him. “You were very young, not even twenty, and inexperienced. He said he was sorry for hurting you, and you believed him because you loved him.”

“Or thought I did.”

“Pedar was much older than you. He was stylish and sophisticated. It’s understandable that he was able to dazzle you with his attention and his wealth.”

“His attention, yes,” Elijah admitted. “No one had ever showed that kind of interest in me before. He made me feel like I was the most important person in the world.” He pulled off his shirt and took off his jeans. “Pedar was rich, but you have to believe that I never asked him to spend his money on me. I told him he didn’t have to, even asked him not to, but he insisted, and he got angry if I refused the gifts he wanted to give me. That should have been my first clue about what kind of a man he really was, but I thought he wanted to buy me things because he loved me. Maybe he thought money was the only way to show his love, or his version of love, but Sean, I need you to know that my being with Pedar was never about his money.”

Sean smiled. “Don’t you think I already knew that?”

“How could you?” Elijah protested. “I was a total stranger to you when I came here.”

Sean took off his clothes, folding them neatly and placing them on a chair, unlike Elijah, who despite Sean’s influence, still tended to pull off whatever he’d been wearing and leave it wherever it fell.

“I know because of the way you came here,” Sean explained. “You were driving an old heap that you borrowed from a friend. You didn’t have a cell phone, and aside from a few clothes and that box of photos, all you brought with you was a portable CD player and your collection of CDs. If you were with Pedar for the money, you would have kept everything he gave you and taken it with you when you left. They were expensive things, so you could have sold them and gotten a great deal of money, but instead, you left them all behind, taking only what was yours before you met, to show him that you didn’t want or need the things he gave you, and that you didn’t want anything that would remind you of the relationship.”

That wasn’t quite true. Elijah had taken with him the rose quartz beaded bracelet that Pedar had given him, but it was merely a trinket, of no real value other than sentimental, and Elijah had eventually stopped wearing it. As far as Sean knew, Elijah hadn’t disposed of it, just put it away. Sean said he was fine with that because he felt he should be. After all, he still had tokens that Daniel had given him, so he couldn’t begrudge Elijah's holding on to this one thing from his past. Sean told himself he would have been fine if Elijah had kept wearing it, but was secretly pleased when Elijah had relegated the bracelet to the drawer of the night stand.

“I did take something of value,” Elijah reminded Sean. “I stole money from Pedar. He gave me his ATM account code in case of emergencies, but I never used it, not until the night I left. I used his own money to get away from him.”

“It wasn’t greed that prompted you to take that money,” Sean said. “You were running for your life, and you needed that money to get away from a man who was abusing you. The fact that you told me what you’d done, then asked me to help you return it to him showed me how little Pedar’s money meant to you.”

They got into bed. From the serious nature of their conversation, Sean could tell that Elijah wasn’t in the mood for sex, so he lay back against his pillow. It was obvious that what happened with Pedar still troubled Elijah and he needed to talk more about it, so Sean would let him, and allow him to do it at his own pace.

After a few moments of silence, Elijah said, “I lived with Pedar for three years and thought I knew what love was. You showed me what real love is in only a few weeks, and you didn’t use money to do it.”

“I don’t blame Pedar for wanting to give you nice things,” Sean put in. “I would want to spoil you, too.”

“You did spoil me, but when you got the satellite dish, the TV and the rest, you didn’t do it to impress me. Once you knew I was going to stay, you bought them because you knew I’d enjoy them, and that I’d be happier living here if I had them. The desk you gave me for Christmas showed how much you cared. You could have gone out and bought a big, expensive one, but you made one with your own two hands because you wanted it to be special. Pedar would never have done something like that.”

“Some people would say I made it because it was cheaper than buying one.”

“But it wasn’t. It probably cost more than a ready-made one. Plus all the time and effort you put into building it just for me. The love you put into the work, that’s what made it so special.”

Sean had felt pride in his creation, and was pleased to know that Elijah understood that as much love as sweat had gone into the project. “I wanted you to have something of your own, something made especially for you.”

“And I love that desk, but it’s not just about material things. It’s about knowing that you’ll look out for me no matter what, that you’d protect me with your life, but you won’t always be able to keep me from getting hurt. What matters is that if I do fall, I know you’ll always be there to catch me. You’re my soft place to land, Sean.”

Sean patted his stomach. “Really soft because of all my extra padding.”

Rather than laugh, Elijah looked put out. “Please don’t make a joke of it.”

“I don’t mean to,” Sean said. “It means everything to me that you feel you can rely on me, and I want you to know that I’ll always be there for you.”

“I already know that,” Elijah told him.

“But I think I still need to prove myself.”

“How can you do that?”

“I think I should hold you while you sleep tonight,” Sean explained. “You could have a nightmare, and thrash around so much that you’ll fall out of bed.” Sean’s arms went around Elijah, drawing him close until Elijah was snug against his side. He used one hand to pull up the blankets, covering them, then settled back, thinking, as he often did, how right it felt when they were this physically close, that their bodies fit perfectly, as if they belonged together.

Elijah tried to sound serious, as if his falling out of bed was a real possibility. “Yeah, that could happen,” he said, the warmth of Sean's body a soothing balm against his fears, “so I think your holding me is a good idea.”

“I’m glad you agree,” Sean said, brushing his lips against Elijah’s hair. For Sean, holding Elijah was always a good idea.


End file.
